Sports round-up 2012.09.19

FAYETTE CROSS INVITE: Fayette boys placed second at their own invitational Saturday morning and Eagle sophomore Skylar Lantz was the boys champion.

In the girls race, Morenci captured three of the top 14 places to finish fifth overall, ahead of Fayette in sixth. Twelve schools participated in the run.

Lantz crossed the finish line at 17:08 for a personal best, just a second ahead of Anthony Wayne’s Sam Williamson. Last year’s winner, Wade Ballman of Pittsford, placed third. Lantz cut nearly two minutes off his time from a year ago.

“Skylar is on a mission this year,” said Fayette coach Bryan Stambaugh. “He’s really working hard.”

He figures Lantz would have finished below 17 minutes on a course less tough than Fayette’s.

Morenci’s Luke Spaulding placed fifth overall at 18:02 and Fayette’s Dylan Stannard took eighth at 18:17. Stannard improved his time by nearly two minutes.

FAYETTE VOLLEYBALL: A trip to Pettisville last week resulted in a loss for Fayette’s varsity volleyball team.

The Blackbirds scored decisive wins in two games (25-17, 25-13), but the Eagles played closely in the middle contest, losing 25-23.

“When you can finish a game at 25-23 against a strong Blackbird team, I am very proud of that,” said coach Danni Keefer. “Even though it was a loss to us, I feel we played hard and learned even more of what we are capable of doing.”

Serving finished at only 75 percent and hitting came through at 88 percent accuracy. Taylor Hartman and Allison Cuff were the most successful at the serving line. Ashtyn Baker and Paige Keefer finished with the most kills.

“I still see a lot of improvement, both defensively and offensively,” Keefer said.

JVs—Pettisville took the JV match in two games, 25-20 and 25-15.

Rylee Ruger and Jena Myers were high servers. Myers and Michaela Bates led at the net, and the entire team hit well, said coach Alissa Stockburger.

FAYETTE GOLF: Riley Martin came through with his top score of the season last week at North Central’s Hillcrest golf course with a 37.

Five members of North Central’s team also finished in the 30s, leading the squad to a 144-169 league win. Kole Peterson was medalist with a 35.

The top three teams plus the top three individuals not on a qualifying team will advance to the district tournament Oct. 1 at Arlington Sycamore Springs Golf Course.

The 2011 medalist, Woodmore’s Mikayla Baer, returns to try to top her score of 71. Bates also advanced last year with a score of 95.

MORENCI FOOTBALL: Madison made some threats, but the Morenci defense held fast Friday night to shut out the Trojans 28-0.

The Bulldogs got the job done without two-way starter Austin Sandusky for the entire game and without starter Brandon Myers for the second half of the game.

Coach Mike McDowell was pleased to see the response of his squad with two key players out of action. It forced some players to take on new roles and they stepped up and responded, he said.

“It was a really good win for the kids and it built some camaraderie among the team,” McDowell said.

So many of the team members aren’t classmates, he noted, with ages ranging from a freshman to seniors, and they haven’t played together until this season. A situation like last week’s victory helps bring them together, McDowell said.

With Sandusky out of the line-up, McDowell went with a pair of larger ball carriers—Cody Powell and Hayze Wolf—for what he described as a “boring ground and pound” game. The pair combined for 240 yards, and junior Colin Smith, playing for the first time this season, finished with 45 yards.

The Bulldogs got off to a slow start Friday offensively by fumbling away their first two possessions of the contest. The Trojans took over on Morenci’s 23 and later on the 40, but couldn’t advance far on either attempt.

“We were in a hole the entire first quarter,” McDowell said, “but Dan [Hoffman] is doing a great job organizing the defense.”

Morenci had no fumbles on its next try. Powell ran for a first down on the first play and later traveled 51 yards to the one-yard line. Quarterback Torin Merillat ran the ball in for a touchdown early in the second quarter.

After an exchange of punts, Wolf reeled in a pass on a broken play and traveled 41 yards. Powell carried for the touchdown and the conversion for a 14-0 lead with a minute remaining in the half.

The Trojans never threatened in the second half and McDowell said he expected them to attempt more passes and run more plays with their speedy quarterback.

Wolf capped a 52-yard drive for Morenci in the third quarter and Powell scored again in the fourth.

Wolf finished the game with 11 tackles, including five for losses. Powell recorded 10 tackles and Daiton Lemmon was in on eight.

Coach McDowell likes the way his squad is developing, but knows the toughest games are yet to come.

He hopes to have Sandusky and Myers back in action following concussions when Summerfield visits. The Bulldogs from Monroe County are tied with Clinton for the league lead at 2-0. They have the same 3-1 overall record as Morenci.

McDowell says to look for a more traditional spread offense with a solid quarterback and a good wide receiver.

JV FOOTBALL: Morenci JV football coach Tim Roberts saw a lot of good things last week that he wants to see again over the next few weeks. The Bulldogs came through with a 52-0 victory over Madison in a much improved performance.

“It was a pretty good game overall,” Coach Roberts said. “I hope we see this effort for the rest of the season. We played a lot better.”

Morenci went on top 20-0 after a quarter and took a commanding 44-0 lead by halftime.

The Bulldogs racked up 414 yards of offense with 318 of that coming on rushes.

Mike Heinze had 16 carries for 154 yards and he scored four touchdowns. Brandon DiCenso added 87 yards on six carries and he scored one touchdown. DiCenso also had two receptions for 10 yards.

Austin Gilson carried nine times for 54 yards. He had one reception for five yards. Alex Thomas had seven carries for 26 yards and one touchdown. He also put in some time as quarterback and completed five of six passes for 91 yards.

Wes Pierce made one reception for five yards and Chris Hinkley had one for 32 yards—on a fourth and 10 situation. Koty Dillon caught a pair of passes for 46 yards.

On defense, Danny Hunt came through with four tackles. Bobby Black finished with a tackle and an interception. Alex Pless made three tackles and had a fumble recovery for a touchdown.

MORENCI VOLLEYBALL: Morenci’s volleyball squad made it a clean sweep of Whitmore Lake when the Trojans visited Thursday for a double-header. The Bulldogs took both matches in three games to pick up their second consecutive double-header TCC victory.

“Our passing and movement in the back row was outstanding tonight, especially in the first match,” said Bulldog coach Dennis Owens. “We scrambled well when we didn’t make a pass. All 12 players contributed.”

He was also pleased with his squad’s 93 percent serving mark.

Morenci took the opener, 25-22, and was slow to pull away in the second game. The visitors had the lead at 16-14 before Hannah Jeffers scored a point and Brooke Bovee tied it up. The Bulldogs ended up scoring six in a row before winning 25-20.

Morenci went on top 20-13 in the third game, but Whitmore Lake came back to pull within three before the Bulldogs finished it off, 25-20.

JV VOLLEYBALL: After losing a league double header at Whiteford last Tuesday, Morenci’s JV volleyball team rebounded by defeating Whitmore Lake in the first match at home on Thursday.

Ali VanBrandt and Justus McCowan controlled the offense by providing several setting assists. Whitmore Lake won the closely contested second match by winning the third game 15-12.

On Saturday, Jackson Northwest’s balanced offense overwhelmed Morenci in the first match at the Hudson Invitational. In the second match, Lenawee Christian took a 17-9 lead in the first game and it looked like Morenci would be defeated again. The Bulldogs’ scrambling defense provided the energy needed for a 25-24 win.

The second game against LCS was just as close as the first until four of the final six Morenci servers missed their critical serves, allowing LCS to win 25-22.

Pool play continued with two losses to Hudson. After the Tigers led 5-0, Morenci jumped ahead 14-9 before losing 21-25. The second game went back and forth, also, with Hudson finally winning 25-23.

Morenci advanced to the Bronze bracket and lost to Vandercook Lake. Vandercook Lake was in complete control, leading 22-11, before Sydney Weeks scored six straight service points. Three of those points were consecutive serving aces.

The Bulldogs won their fifth and final match of the day with a third game win over Pittsford, 15-13. Megan Spencer went 14 for 14 from the service line, while Rebecca Heinze provided the power at the net with six kills.